How a Billionaire Does Christmas Lights

Hedge fund titan Paul Tudor Jones III spreads a little Christmas cheer around Greenwich, Conn., each year. Well maybe more than just a little.

Off-duty police officers direct traffic around the sprawling light display, allowing drivers to line up eight at a time in front of Jones’ 13,000-square-foot home on a waterfront cul-de-sac. A soundtrack synchronized to the thousands of flashing lights plays over the radio on FM90.5. The full cycle lasts nearly five minutes.

There is no official count of the spectators, but on the night The Journal attended scores of cars lined up along the streets of the quiet neighborhood for a chance to take in a light show put on by one of the richest people in the world. (WSJ was the only media organization allowed to film this year’s over-the-top show). This year’s theme: angels.

The spectacle feels almost like a drive-in movie. One young spectator taking in the hedge funder’s Christmas show for the first time exclaimed, “It’s like Disney World!”

Uncertainty surrounded the light show this year. As WSJ’s Robert Frank noted earlier this month, the display had caused complaints among some of Jones’ neighbors in Belle Haven, one of the most exclusive communities in Greenwich. Their displeasure had forced Jones to cancel his annual haunted house Halloween bash.